


Please Take Me

by hypochondriacandatrashmouth, The_Fish_of_Death



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), MCU, Thor: Ragnarok - Fandom
Genre: DeathAnt - Freeform, F/M, Hate to Love, Helheim, Love sickness, Odin is a dick, Pining, Pre-Ant-Man and the Wasp, Pre-Thor: Ragnarok, Quantum Teleportation, Slow Burn, There's no shipname for these two so I made one, This can get real angsty at times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2020-02-10 21:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18668956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypochondriacandatrashmouth/pseuds/hypochondriacandatrashmouth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Fish_of_Death/pseuds/The_Fish_of_Death
Summary: Scott has always had trouble saying “no” to people. Hela has never had someone willingly follow her without being in fear.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a Beth Crowley song.

Gods, She hated him.

She hated his stupid eyes. She hated his stupid hair. His stupid bright smile. That stupid way he looks like an excited puppy that is just excited to be there. She wanted nothing to do with him—

Yet here he was, sound asleep beside her in her bed.

He looks so peaceful, asleep like this. He looks younger. And the way he was snoring.... it was actually kind of cute.

No, Hela! she scolded herself. Don't think like that. He's idiotic. You can do better! Besides. He isn't staying here that much longer, then you can forget all about him.

The man beside her started to stir, whining and rolling onto his back, yet he still looked peaceful.

Hela forced herself to look away from him and sat up. She looked down at the jumbled up sheets and made a strangled noise and shoved the covers off her body and scrambled out of bed.

The man whined again and opened his eyes. “Ms. Reindeer Goddess Lady?” he said, eyes glancing around. “Where'd you go?” He sat up and looked around and Hela wished she could have died right then, because maybe this wouldn't have to continue. But she's the goddess of death, so it's kind of against the job description for her to die.

“Oh,” the man said, and smiled at her. That dorky, crooked smile that made her insides feel like goo. “Good morning,” he continued.

“Not really that good, since it's morning,” Hela said as she yanked the bedsheets from the man’s body. “And it's Queen Hela to you, Midgardian.”

“My name is Scott,” the man said, pouting cutely when she removed the sheets from him. “It's _not_ Midgardian.”

“Yeah, okay,” Hela said simply as she started for the door. “Now get out of my bed. You’re going to finally explain to me how you got here.”

***

“Queenie Lady,” Scott said as he sat across from her. “I've told you over and over and over: I don't remember how I got here! I just remember getting stuck in the Quantum Realm again, passing out, then waking up here. I don't know how it happened.”

“I think you're lying,” Hela said.

“Why would I lie about that? I don't even know where I am right now,” Scott said. “I haven't known for the past few days!”

“You lie!” Hela manifested a knife in one hand and grabbed his wrist in the other. She pressed the tip of the knife to his throat. His eyes widened as beads of blood trickled down his neck and the bones in his wrist crunch as she held him in her vice-like grip.

“That- that- that’s a knife,” he said, trying not to move too much as his eyes stayed locked on the blade in the goddess’s hand. “A very very _very_ sharp one, too.”

Hela let out an unamused sigh and lowered the knife. This was hopeless, and the man was obviously dull in the brain.

"We are in Helheim. I am Queen here and you will treat me as such little mortal. I am not one of your weak midgardian friends that are trying to be gods." She let him go and stalked over to the scrying basin in the centre of the room.

"Uh. So what do I do, Your Loveliness?" Scott asked timidly.

Hela turned around and opened a portal to Midgard.

"You walk through this and return home. I do not want to see you here ever again so please, do me a favour and die in battle," she growled.

She watched as Scott walked through the portal. Her frustration increased when he came back out the other side instead of going to Midgard.

This was Odin's doing. It was obvious to her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @The_Fish_of_Death for helping me with this chapter. *You* are a goddess.

The two had been sitting in silence for a while now.

Well, _Hela_ was sitting in silence, _Scott_ kept trying to make conversation. Hela kept sending him deadly looks every time he opened his mouth. She was trying to think of a way that could work to get him out of there and far away from her.

“Okay, look Your Deathliness,” Scott said, ignoring the look she shot at him, “It seems like I'm stuck here, and you're stuck here too I'm guessing, so why don't we talk and get to know each other? It could be fun! Kinda like Twenty Questions but there's no question limit. Do you know what Twenty Questions is?”

“I do not know what that is, Midgardian,” Hela said, turning her head to look at him.

“Wanna play it?” Scott asked excitedly, practically bouncing where he was sitting.

“It's a _game_?” the Death Goddess asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

“Like for _children_?”

“Sometimes,” Scott shrugged. “But if adults play it, you can make the questions _dirty_ and _kinky_ if you want.”

“It's a game where you ask questions…”

“Yup!”

“Sounds _boring_.”

“But it's not! I swear! It's a lotta fun!”

Hela sighed and adjusted her position where she was sitting and folded her hands in her lap. “You won't leave me alone if I walk away, will you?”

“Probably not. I'd get lost in this place if we separated,” Scott admitted sheepishly.

Hela sighed again and looked down at her hands.

“You start the game,” she said.

Scott gasped excitedly and grinned. “Okay! Um…. What's your full name? I'm starting easy for you.”

“Hela Odinsdottir,” the goddess replied. Scott nodded.

“Hela’s a pretty name,” he said.

“It literally means ‘death’,” Hela said, giving him an incredulous look.

“Then it suits you, Queenie,” Scott beamed at her.

Hela was a bit taken aback. She rarely received comments like that on Asgard.

“Is it my turn now?” she asked, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice.

“Yep!” the mortal said cheerily. “Ask me anything.”

She already knows him from one glance at his soul, but she’ll ask him anyway.

“What do you do on Midgard?”

He grinned wider. She wanted to slap that happy look right off his face and absorb his soul so she wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. If only she didn't have this collar around her neck or the braces on her wrists that prevented her from using her magic. Of course, it only stopped her Seidr, her other powers were fine, but Odin didn't need to know that. Extracting the mortal’s soul would only alert the Allfather to her situation. These chains were enough.

“I save the world,” Scott said finally.

Oh gods, he was one of those people.

“Don't we all,” Hela snapped at him.

He visibly flinched at her sharp tone and held his hands up in surrender. Good to know people were still scared of her.

“All I did was answer your question,” Scott said. “It's part of the game. You know that.”

“Yeah. I know,” Hela said. “But I didn't like that answer.”

“But being a hero is a _good thing_!”

“I'm _sick_ and _tired_ of people trying to play hero,” Hela said.

“But-”

“They only ever think about themselves and the innocents,” she interrupted. “They never try to look at things from the villain’s point of view, see what they're fighting for. No matter how open-minded they are.”

“Okay lady. Take it from someone who has _done time_ because he did the wrong things for the right reasons and got a bit carried away with it: I've seen the bad guy’s point of view before. And it kept me away from my daughter for _years_. It kept me away from her. I missed _years_ with her.”

“I HAVE BEEN HERE _LOCKED UP_ FOR FIVE THOUSAND YEARS! I WAS _SHUNNED_ FOR BEING WHO I WAS. CALLED A _MONSTER_ , A _TRAITOR_ TO THE THRONE! I WAS STRIPPED OF ALL MY TITLES AND DISOWNED JUST FOR WANTING MORE THAN NINE REALMS TO PROTECT FROM THE MAD TITAN. YOU _THINK_ YOU UNDERSTAND BUT YOU HAVE BARELY SCRAPED THE SURFACE MORTAL. I AM THE GODDESS OF DEATH. QUEEN OF HELHEIM. THEY ALL FEAR ME BECAUSE I AM THE ASGARDIAN PERSONIFICATION OF DEATH. THEY FEAR ME BECAUSE THEY THINK ME INSANE. IN THEIR MINDS I AM A VILLAIN. _NOBODY_ HAS _EVER_ TRIED AND WILL _NEVER BOTHER TRYING_ TO SEE THE WORLD FROM MY POINT OF VIEW.”

Scott didn't look fazed at all this time. He simply frowned. “ _Show me_ your point of view. Have me see things your way.”

“I cannot,” she said. “Your mind would shatter.”

“Wouldn't be the first time,” Scott shrugged.

The goddess inhaled sharply when the chains and collar on her sent volts of electricity through her.

“You may think that,” she said, “but once I show you, you’ll _never_ be the same again.”

“I haven't been the same as I was for a while,” the ex-con said.

“But I'm serious. You’ll go insane.”

Scott simply shrugged again.

“I'm not showing you,” Hela said sternly.

And yet the stupid mortal kept insisting. And he was getting on her nerves again. Gods, why is he so annoying?

“ _Leave it alone_ ,” Hela’s voice was threatening and she looks annoyed and tired. “ _Now_.”

“But I want to _understand_!”

“Midgardian, _no_ ,” Hela said, voice stern once again, and less threatening.

Scott noticed something about her tone and in her eyes. It wasn't threatening and hateful… It was protective. The same look he had seen in Paxton’s eyes when Scott was released from prison and showed up at the house for Cassie's birthday party those years ago unannounced. He wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place, just like he wasn't supposed to be here in Helheim.

“I'm sorry…” he said. “I don't want to push you…” Should he ask her why she's protective of him all of a sudden? Or would that be pushing too hard, as well? Eh, curiosity will eat him alive if he doesn't ask.

“Why do you care about how I am all of a sudden?”

Hela hadn't expected the question, and she didn't really have an answer. She didn't know why, herself.

Why was she suddenly caring about this mortal who was annoying her so badly?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to The_Fish_of_Death for helping out with this.
> 
> She wrote Hela's POV for this chapter while I took over Scott's.

Hela woke with a gasp to small whimpers coming from the mortal in her makeshift bed. She had used what resources she could find in her small cage in Helheim to make a reasonably comfy place to sleep. Old capes from the corpses of the ten thousand Valkyries she had slain no more than three thousand years ago, old shields etcetera. She had a field day with the old bits of armour, it kept her busy while she waited for her father to die so she could return home at last, so she could see her mother again…

She sat up and gritted her teeth as the blanket shifted and let the freezing night air hit her exposed shoulders. The mortal whimpered again. She fixed him with a glare which soon softened when she realised his eyes were still closed.

Nightmares are a bitch. Hela knows, oh boy she knows. They keep her up _every single night_. Well she _thinks_ it's night, she doesn't quite know. This pit in Helheim is always dark and grey. There is little to no light in some areas of it. The rest of Helheim is beautiful and sunny with snow dusting the tall alps in the west of the realm and waters as clear as day. Well, that's what she remembered of the nicer parts of the kingdom that were far away from the pits where the less fortunate dishonoured dead were sent for punishment by Garm; the giant she-wolf that guarded the Gates of Hel. Garm was running the Realm in her absence and doing a fine job at that. The pits were designed to bring out each individual soul's worst fear and increase it tenfold. Hela's whole life was full of war, death and chaos... the nightmares she has is enough to drive the strongest minds into madness. For the living, it's nightmares to the same degree. So when she says she understands nightmares, she does... and she wished she didn't.

The mortal continued to whimper, occasionally muttering names in his sleep that were meaningless to the Goddess watching over him as he suffered. Hela was about to fall asleep again when he started thrashing. Something inside her stirred, what remained of her maternal instincts fought against her other instincts to reach out to the Midgardian and ease him from his night terror. A steady flow of her seidr seeps into his mind. He calms a little as she cups his cheek and wipes his tears.

She has to stop.

  
The bracers and the collar around her neck are sapping her strength. She cuts the seidr stream off as she feels light headed and rips her hand away from the mortal's face when he wakes with a gasp.

***

This was the first time Scott had had a bad time sleeping in almost four months. And he didn't think it had been this bad then.

He had drifted off fine, but then he was just trapped in the blackness that usually came before dreams. But the dreams never came, he thought. Instead of a dream, he felt like he had been sucked right back into the Quantum Realm, like he had gone subatomic again.

But how did he—

He must have pressed the button on his glove while he slept. (He didn't really have a change of clothes with him so he had been stuck wearing the suit this whole time.)

He reached the Quantum Realm and looked around. He continued to shrink, getting smaller and smaller as he went further and further into the realm. He began to panic. No. _No no no no!_ This couldn't be happening! Not again. There was no way he could get out now, he couldn't remember how he got out in the first place!

He eventually reached the dark zone of the realm, where he stopped shrinking last time and simply floated in the nothingness. He looked around again. He began to hyperventilate and whimper. He was stuck here until he found out how to get back out.

“Cassie! Hope! Hank!” he called out. “Anyone?! Maggie? Paxton?” He knew none of them could hear him, but with the comm in his helmet… maybe, just maybe, Hope or Hank could hear him…

“Cassie… oh Peanut… I'm-” Tears began to flow. He tried to stop them but he couldn't.

Through his tears, he began to grab at anything on his belt that could clue him in to how he got out the first time. He took out one of the blue Growing Disks. Maybe this would help— “No!” The disk slipped from his grasp and began to float away. He tried to grab for it, but it continued to get further and further out of his reach. He got another and another and another out, and the same thing happened again and again and again until he was out of the blue disks.

He curled in on himself and started sobbing. Until…

His helmet retracted and he felt like he was suffocating. But then that feeling went away and his whole body started to relax and ease into calmness. His breathing slowed back to normal and his eyes closed. Suddenly the soothing feeling disappeared and he felt like he was suffocating again.

But then he could breathe again…

His eyes snapped open and he gasped in the air and found himself in the room of the goddess once again. He looked up and saw her leaning over him, hands held out as if she had touched him.

He continued to gasp in breaths and slumped against the bed.

“What was that?” Hela asked.


	4. Chapter 4

“You thought you were back in that… place that sent you here?”

Hela was trying to wrap her mind around what had caused the mortal to go into the panic that had awoken her from her slumber.

Scott nodded. “Yeah. The Quantum Realm. I thought I was stuck there again. And I couldn't get back out.”

“How were you planning on getting back out when you were there before ending up here?” Hela inquired.

“My mentor, his daughter, and I were trying some experiments. They had me tethered to them so they could pull me back out,” Scott explained. “Something happened and that tether got cut off from them and…. Well…. you know what happened.”

He looked sad. Hela hadn't seen him sad, only confused, excited, and scared.

“What if I'm stuck here forever?” he whispered, seemingly to himself.

“You won't be stuck here forever,” Hela assured him. “I won't allow it.”

***

Odin sits upon Hlidskjalf and watches the Nine Realms, scanning them for signs of Malekith and his ship. The convergence was due to start any day now. A sharp pain spikes through him; he turns his gaze to Helheim a moment later.

Hela is free of the chains he wrapped her tightly in after the Valkyrie Massacre 3000 years ago. Another wave of pain jolts through him as the golden barrier around the pit she's in trembles from the blasts she gives it. That barrier is reinforced with his life force. It won't break until he dies, but by the looks of things now; he might have to go back down and chain her up again.

Frigga races into the room, her skirts billowing around her as she comes to a sudden stop at the base of Hlidskjalf.

"Heimdal has the Bifrost and a squadron of Einherjar ready for you. He says she's nearly through the barrier,” she panted.

Another spike of pain. He turns his gaze back to Hela's prison. Heimdall is right. There's already spider-webbed fractures spreading through the barrier as his firstborn continues to strike it with enough force to probably shatter Mjolnir.

A shimmer of green passes over Frigga as she changes her dress to armour similar to her daughter's and the Valkyrior. It's black with gold veins and plating, black pauldrons accented with a silvery blue metal secure a midnight blue cape to her shoulders. All that's missing is her helm: he half expects her to pull out her old, black and gold antlered helmet before he remembers he melted it down along with the remnants of Hela's necroblades after he imprisoned her 5000 years ago. She settles for a black helmet accented with silver and gold that is similar to Thor's but more feminine.

He pulls his own helmet out of his pocket dimension, grabs Gungnir and descends the stairs to make his way to the Bifrost.  
Sleipnir waits for them outside the huge doors to the palace, pawing the crystal surface of the bridge with his eight hooves.

***

Scott watches as the Death Goddess strikes blow after terrifyingly strong blow on the golden barrier creating a dome over the pit. It starts to fracture after ten good blows. The shackles on her wrist and the collar around her neck fall off after another five blows to the barrier.

She stops mid-strike and spins to face him with a scary look in her eyes.

"Hide somewhere safe."

She doesn't explain. But Scott does as she says and shrinks himself before hiding somewhere he thinks is out of harm's way. They both watch as a stream of concentrated rainbow light hits the black, dusty surface of the pit with a scream. As soon as the light appeared, it disappeared and left a group of people standing on some runic looking markings that had been burned into the ground. The newcomers shift away from the circle, their horned helmets and billowing yellow capes creating long eerie shadows.

Hela drags her hands through her hair. Twelve black horns morph from the silky, black strands. He wonders if her hair is as silky as it looks; or if it's greasy and in need of a good wash and the silky look is an illusion. He watches as another stream of rainbow light touches the ground. This time there is an eight legged black horse with two riders on its back.

The female rider gets off and barks a command to the soldier people confronting Hela in a language Scott doesn't recognise. The soldiers back away from the Death Goddess at the newcomer's command. Both women stare at each other warily before the second one reaches out to cup Hela's cheek. The male rider hisses a warning to his counterpart in the same strange language to which the woman turns and shoots him a glare; green eyes lighting up in her anger.

He runs out of the way to avoid the huge boot of one of the soldiers and makes his way a bit closer to Hela to hide in a skull laying in the dirt. The gods he's watching switch to English.

"Mother..."

The second woman turns back to Hela with tears in her pale green eyes and draws her into a tight-looking hug.

“Mother?” Scott shrieked. He was still small, but that shriek was loud enough to have been a whisper from a regular-sized person.

Frigga looked away from Hela. “What was that?”

“Shit…” Scott mutters.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long time no see. sorry this took so long.

“Mother?!” Scott shrieked.

The woman in question spun around and looked directly at him. Scott’s blood ran cold as she made her way over to the skull he was hiding under and flipped it over.

“What is it Frigga?” the man said.

Frigga kept looking at him, her eyes took on a mild green glow.

She was going to squish him under her heeled boot like an ant. But that wasn’t the case, instead of being squished Frigga’s voice filled his head.

“I’ll let you stay little mortal. Keep her company, try to ease her mind and get her thinking about something other than her plan to burn Asgard to its core. If you succeed, the Universe will be saved from her wrath and we’ll have a valuable ally on our side in the battles to come. If you fail… if you hurt her… nothing in the Nine will stop her from killing you… nothing will stop me either.”

“It’s nothing Odin! I thought I saw something in the skull, but it was a mere Bull Ant,” she called to the man.

Odin walks toward his hiding spot to look, but Frigga brings her boot down hard on the gravelly ground beside him. He curls up into a ball and shields himself from the chunks of rock flying everywhere.  
Odin seems satisfied and drifts back over to Hela.

Frigga’s voice echoes in his head again, “stay hidden little mortal.”

 

***

 

Freyja was away from the others, thinking about the last several eons. More specifically, how Hela had been chained up and cast away from everyone else. Everyone thought that the Death Goddess was unable to feel love anymore, but Freyja thought differently.

Perhaps a spell would work? After all, Hela was alone in the dark and could probably use some company.

She stood from her throne in Folkvangr and descended the steps on the dais. Making her way to her chambers, she ran through all the love spells she had memorized. One would amplify feelings, one could suppress them. There were so many to choose from and such little time to choose one. 

Bygul and Trjegul joined her at her side, both giant felines falling into step on either side of her. Their strong muscles rippled under their grey coats of soft fur as they slinked along. 

Once in her chambers she set about gathering the necessary ingredients for the spell. She decided to go for a spell that would amplify feelings of attraction in one of the partners. If she aimed the sell correctly, she could get Hela. If the spell went off course, then whoever received it may die. Not because of the spell, but because of the dangers of courting one Goddess as powerful and deadly as Odin's Firstborn. 

 

***

 

Scott watched as Odin grabbed Hela and threw her toward two spires sticking up from the ground. She stumbled, but was forced to her feet and shackled at the wrists and ankles. Frigga stood and faced the opposite way, tears streaming from her eyes and tracking down her face. 

Scott turned his attention back to Hela. Her arms were wrapped in thin, fragile chains. But she was stretched between the two spires, unable to move without causing harm to her limbs. Still, he'd seen her strength. So why wasn't she breaking free? 

He strained to hear what Odin was saying to her. Frigga looked distraught. 

"These chains look thin, don't they Hela?" Odin sneered. 

Hela said nothing and stared at her Mother's back. 

"They are quite unbreakable though. Fenris couldn't even break them. They're perfect for restraining monsters." 

Hela glared at her father, yet still remained silent. 

"Though Fenris doesn't need them anymore. She's dead." 

Frigga turned around, her eyes were void of emotion as she walked over to her daughter after Odin's spear banged into the rough ground. Blue magic glowing stuff flowed from her hands and over Hela. The chains glowed briefly, as did the death goddess. 

"Your mother's enchantments will further stop you from trying to escape," said Odin. 

Odin took a last look at Hela, then walked back over to his eight legged horse. Frigga cradled Hela's face in her palms and pressed her forehead to the younger goddess' before reluctantly letting go and walking over slowly to join her husband. 

Scott stayed hidden as best as he could, the blinding beam of light collected the other two gods, and he was left alone in a pit with Hela again. 

***

Freyja molded the ball of pink seidr in her hand. She watched and waited until the All-Mother and All-Father were collected by the Bifrost, then gathered her strength and hurled the seidr as hard and fast as she could at a tiny man in Hel with Hela. 

Bygul and Trjegul played with each other's tails on the other side of the room. Each male cat trying to prove something to the other. Freyja watched her seidr worm it's way through the quickly repairing cracks in Odin's barrier. 

It hit a tiny man in the chest. A man the size of an ant.

***

Scott was starting to feel weird once the gods had left. A strange, tingling feeling in his chest. He grew to his regular height and slumped against a pillar closeby. 

“What… What was that?” he asked. Then panic started to fill his tone, “What the fuck happened? Where the fuck did they come from? Where the fuck did they go?”

Hela said nothing. She looked terrible. Worse than when he got here.

“Death Lady?! What’s happening? Why am I glowing pink?!” he panicked.

Hela lifted her head, that simple movement looked like it took everything she had.

“Odin and my mother have gone back to Asgard. As for why you’re glowing pink, I have no clue. Nor do I care,” she growled angrily.

Scott stared at his hands for a long moment, trying to think of anything that could have caused this. He came up with nothing that seemed probable in the situation. Sighing, he looked up and–

What's this tightening in his chest? His heart is beating faster. 

Had Hela always looked this beautiful?   
The Goddess had gone limp again, she hung still as a statue, the slow rise and fall of her chest the only sign she was alive. 

Scott slowly approached her, as if she were a frightened animal. In a way she was. 

"Are- are you okay?" he asked hesitantly. 

The Goddess sighs and he almost misses the small "No" that her strained voice hisses. 

"Can I get you anything?" 

"Yes." 

"What do you need?" 

Scott's heart thumps loudly in his chest, the butterflies in his stomach worsen. 

"I need you to shut up and sit down over in the corner. Your existence is giving me a headache." she snaps weakly. 

"You know what Death Lady?" 

"Don't call me that." 

He ignores that part. 

"You need a hug." 

Hela stops breathing entirely for the count of five. 

"Touch me and I'll kill you." she growls. 

Scott scoots away to that corner she told him to sit in and follows her request of staying silent.


	6. Chapter 6

Hela was, honestly, amazed at how well the man was keeping up with being silent. Of the entire time he had been there, whenever she had told him to shut up he couldn’t make it longer than five minutes. It had been almost two hours now, and he was silent…. Mostly. All she could hear from his corner was the sound of rocks hitting the stone ground. She stole a glance to the corner and saw the man dropping the rocks and tossing them at the nearest stone pillar. 

 

This was fine, for now. 

But she couldn't get her mother's heartbroken expression out of her mind as she was bound yet again.  Only this time, Gleipnir had been reinforced with more enchantments that reeked of Odin's seidr and a little of Frigga's

 

The rocks hitting the ground were starting to get onto her nerves.  

 

"Ant! Cease that noise!" she ordered, tone sharp like she used to have it when she was General of the Einherjar. 

 

The mortal stood and slowly walked over to her. His curious gaze wandering over the chains and enchantments binding her to the pillars. 

 

"Do you need to talk?" he asks. 

 

"No.  I'd like complete silence to plot my next move." She hisses angrily. 

 

That hiss turns to a high pitched yelp when the arm she was about to strike him with is yanked back violently.  Her shoulder blade practically screams as she feels the bones slide around. 

 

"I'd recommend not doing that again Hela." Scott says. 

 

When did she start referring to him as Scott?  Why did she like it when he said her name softly like that?   _ When did she start thinking like this?  _

 

"Can I hear this plan of yours?" 

 

No.  Don't tell him. 

 

"It's not solid yet." 

 

Why is she like this?  

 

"But I'm going to kill everyone." She finishes. 

 

Fucking hel.  Why is she even talking to him?  

 

It's only then that she sees the faint pink glow around his soul when she actually looks at him properly. 

 

Freyja's seidr. 

That little shit!  She's cast a love spell on him!  A love spell that was likely meant for her. 

 

“That’s not very nice,” Scott says to her, then his expression changed to one of understanding. “But if it’s what you want… And, I’m not the boss of you.”

 

She feels woozy, not sure if it's the effect of having her power slowly drained away, or the fact that she likes the sound of this mortal's voice.  Whatever it is. She will  _ not _ let Freyja's spell work on her too.  Nor will she let herself get attached to this small man. 

 

"You are completely right.  You are certainly not the boss of me." She snaps. 

 

"I know Hela.  But do you really want to kill  _ everyone _ ?"  he asks softly. 

 

The look he's giving her. 

Oh Norns. 

 

"Yes." she grits out, focusing anywhere but his face. 

 

She doesn't want to kill anyone really.  But if they treat her like a deranged beast… Then that's what they'll get.  If she could, she would rather avoid conflict as much as possible. She had no desire whatsoever to carry more souls to the afterlives than strictly necessary. 

 

(=~|~=) 

**Scott**

 

"Even your family?" Maybe, just maybe, the spell was still allowing him to remember his own family. To remember his daughter. 

 

Hela gave him a look. “My family?” Her tone venomous.

 

“I’m sorry,” the man said. His voice was suddenly soft. “I didn’t– Just pretend I didn't say anything.”

 

She seems to soften a bit at that. 

 

"My family deserve everything coming their way right now.   _ Especially  _ Odin."  she said, adjusting herself in her chains. 

 

"Even your Mom?" 

 

"No.  Not her.  She has suffered just as much as I have.  She deserves better than Odin and I."

 

Does she know about her younger brothers? 

 

Scott sat in front of her, his gaze not once leaving her. “You’re not so bad,” he said. “You’re kinda terrifying, sure. But you have a gentleness to you as well.”

 

He decides to leave the topic of family alone for now. 

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“You haven’t killed me yet, for starters.” He scuffed the ground with the toe of his suit’s boot. “And–I mean, come on–I’ve been annoying you since I got here. And you’re literally the queen of death. And yet you haven’t killed me.”

 

The Goddess of Death fixed him with a hard stare that made his knees start knocking and his insides flutter.

 

“You haven’t given me a reason to kill you yet Man of Ants.  I’ve put up with worse company than yours. I believe you are competing with the God of War for the title of “Most annoying” though.”  

 

She mentioned the God of War with a certain fondness.  Who is the Asgardian God of War?

 

“Who’s the God of War?”  he asks.

 

“Tyr.”  Hela answered gruffly

 

Is he her old boyfriend or something?

 

“I assure you we were  _ not _ romantically involved.  He’s like my brother.” Hela said, straining at her chains again.

 

Can she read his mind? Are his thoughts safe?

 

He has so many questions!

 

If Asgardians exist does this mean Percy Jackson does too, the kid from those books he bought Cassie?  Are there other gods? Are there Titans too? 

 

“Your thinking is getting bothersome,” Hela said suddenly. 

 

“Sorry,” Scott said. “Hey, any idea on how to get those chains off of you?” 

 

“I cannot break them yet,” the Death Goddess replied. “It is not the right moment.  If I do it now Odin will come back. I don't want to deal with him today.”

 

He's fairly sure  _ she _ doesn't even know if she  _ can _ break them. 

 

"What do you need?" he asks. 

 

Hela fixes him with a look of pure annoyance, her lip curling slightly. 

 

"I need you to go back to your corner, stay quiet, stay still and don't do anything that might break my concentration." she barks the orders out rather harshly. 

 

He does as he's told.  Not wanting to test her patience or see how much he could get away with.  

 

He takes a look at the chained Goddess behind him.  Her eyes are closed, her body is relaxed yet tense in the chains.  Her breathing seems to be slower and deeper. It takes him a few minutes to realise she's sleeping. 

 

And now he’s getting quite bored. He sighed and ejected two mini canisters of the Pym Particles from his belt. He held up one with red liquid and frowned a little at it, then held up one with blue. “Blue grows…” he muttered to himself. “I wonder if…” He glanced up from the cylinder at the chained-up goddess. His gaze drifted to the chains binding her. 

 

Slowly and quietly, Scott creeps over to the sleeping deity and smacks a blue disk on the chains (also quietly). And it did—

 

Nothing. 

 

“Dammit,” Scott muttered. Then the chains started to shake slightly and he took a step back. 

 

“Oh no…”

 

Hela's pale eyes snapped open, the irises almost white.  She angers quickly and jerks her head in his direction. 

 

A small black blade shoots toward him as Hela goes limp again, her breathing labored as the chains glowed and the dome above the pit appeared to solidify more. 

 

He shrank to avoid the blade. Then he looked up at the dome and winced.

 

"Shit,” he said aloud.

 

Then he returned his attention to Hela and shot back to his normal size. “Hela? Hela!?” He didn’t know what to do. It seemed to him that the chains were draining her. 

 

He thought she looked pretty rough when he got here, but now she looks like a nightmare!  Her skin is so pale he can see the glowing gold veins pulsing beneath it. Veins that were slowly turning black. 

 

Surely that can't be good. 

 

You know what else isn't good? The fact that Scott was caught by whoever just teleported into the pit with them. 

 

Thank fuck it was only Hela's Mom. 

 

“Hi,” Scott greeted frantically. “I don’t know—I just tried… She passed out. And it didn’t work. I think I made it worse?”

 

Suddenly he was on his knees before Frigga, pleading, “Can you help her? Please?!”

 

The older Goddess tilted her head in the way that Hela did when she was confused. 

 

"We shall see." she said lowly. 


	7. Chapter 7

He watched the goddess anxiously. 

 

“Is she okay?” he asked for what seemed to be the bajillionth time in the last five minutes. 

 

Frigga tugged at the chains a bit, glowing stuff streaming from her fingertips and winding around the string-like chain.  Hela is still unconscious. 

 

After another two minutes, Frigga stepped back.

 

"I lessened the enchantments on Gleipnir, but I cannot do anything to help her right now lest Odin feel it through the bond they still have." 

 

The Goddess spun on her heel and marched toward him. 

 

"She gave you a direct order did she not?" 

 

He looked down in shame, but was startled by Frigga's gentle hand on his shoulder. 

 

"I- look.  Scott. Just don't do anything more to the chains.  You're lucky I came down instead of Odin, and I'm afraid that the next time it will not be me coming down."

 

Scott continued to stare at the ground. “I didn’t know it would happen. I was just– I just wanted to help her,” he explained. “I didn’t know…”

 

He was twiddling his thumbs and wringing his hands as he spoke. 

 

“I thought it might’ve worked… I didn’t think—I wasn’t thinking about the magic.”

 

“At ease Scott.  Just next time think about the magic please.”  she said gently, squeezing his shoulder as she did.

 

Scott’s worry almost evaporated as a warm feeling washed over him, starting at his shoulder where Frigga still had her hand.

 

“Yes, ma’am,” he said after a moment. But his gaze hadn’t risen to meet hers, but to watch Hela’s still-unmoving figure.

 

“I have a question,” he added quickly. 

 

Frigga gave him an apologetic look. “I want to let her go, too,” she said. “But Odin will not allow it.”

 

“But, like, aren’t you a queen or something?” Scott asked. “Head goddess or whatever? You shouldn’t have to listen to  _ him _ .”

 

Frigga paused and opened her mouth several times but said nothing. 

 

"I- I honestly?" she asked, "I have enough power in society as a woman to divorce him, but then I'd be powerless and I wouldn't be the All-Mother anymore.  The only other option would be to kill him and take the realm myself." 

 

"But you don't want to kill him?" 

 

Frigga nodded, "Though the women in our society have more power than some women of the others, we are still seen as the lesser sex." 

 

“Oh,” was all Scott could say in response to what he just learned. “Oh… Okay.” 

 

He heard a soft noise come from where Hela was and looked over. 

 

"Mother?"  Hela croaked. 

 

Frigga was at her side in an instant. 

 

Scott felt an urge to rush over as well, but something was making him stay put. 

 

“How is she?” he asked instead. His concern was evident in his furrowed eyebrows and trembling lower lip and how he was wringing his hands again. 

 

The two exchanged several words in a language he didn't understand. 

 

"She will be fine.  Just immensely drained." Frigga said. 

 

“That’s good,” Scott breathed. He took a hesitant step toward her. “Hela, how are you feeling? Do you need anything? Anything at all?” He was feeling very submissive all of a sudden.

 

Hela’s gaze drifted over to him. “We need to stop my father.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We would absolutely love it if you left a comment!


	8. Chapter 8

“Okay, can we go over the plan one more time?” Scott asked, looking up from where he was seated on the floor in front of the goddesses, Hela was still chained between the pillars. 

 

She groaned and looked at the Ant-Man. “My mother is going to fake her death,” she started, speaking slowly so he will hopefully understand this time. “That will send Father into a depression, and lower his guard temporarily.”

 

“Okay, and what do I do?” the man asked. 

 

“You do nothing until told to,” she replied. 

 

“I think he understands now,” Frigga said. “Are we ready?”

 

Hela and Scott nodded and then Frigga disappeared. 

 

"Wait no.  What happens when Frigga dies?" Scott asked meekly. 

 

"Odin releases the rest of her power." she huffs

 

"Is that a good thing?" 

 

Oh for Frigg's sake. 

 

"It is if we want to get out of here darling." 

 

Oh shit! Did she just? 

 

"Did you just call me darling?"

 

Hela felt her cheeks burn a bright shade of gold. 

 

"No." she said gruffly. 

 

"You did!" Scott said excitedly, bouncing around. 

 

"Fine." she relented, "I did.  It was a slip of the tongue." 

 

He was looking at her like a puppy again.  Oh gods he looks so happy.  

 

They spent the next few hours in silence, Scott still happy as anything, and her cheeks still burning gold. 

 

Then it was time. The announcement of Frigga’s “death” started spreading and the news reached Hel. Scott’s excitement turned to anxiety as he prepared himself for whatever was about to happen. He was still kind of confused. 

 

Then Odin arrived, that asshole. He wasn’t supposed to be here, yet he looked upset. At least that was working. 

 

Steps one and two: Check. 

 

Now on to step three: Get Frigga’s magic back to its full capacity. 

 

When Odin showed up, Scott was almost caught. The god’s arrival was unexpected and mortal had to scramble to hide and shrink in time. 

 

“Hela,” the old god said. “Your mother is dead.”

 

A sad "Oh…" was all she said. 

 

"I thought perhaps you could-" 

 

"Father.  Do I look to be in a position to 

do my job properly let alone bring Mother back?" 

 

There was silence between the two of them. 

 

Then chains clattered to the floor along with Hela.  She landed on her ankle wrong and rolled it as she fell. 

 

Scott almost shot forward to help her, something possessed him to, but he had to hold himself back. Odin can _ not _ know he’s here. Can _ not _ know he exists. So instead, he grew and did his best to remain hidden. His helmet retracted and he peeked up just enough for Hela to see him and mouthed silently, “Are you okay?”

 

Hela's nod "yes" was almost imperceptible, but he got it anyway. He bit his lip and continued to keep an eye on her. It was going well so far. 

 

He managed a glance at Odin, a sudden rage started burning inside him. He really hated him now. 

 

_ Get away from her. Get away from her. Don’t you lay a fucking finger on her or I swear to god I’ll— _ he kept thinking over and over and over as he watched the two gods interacting. 

 

He was  _ pissed _ . Really pissed. 

 

Hela was a deity. She didn’t deserve this treatment. And more importantly, she didn’t deserve to have Odin bothering her like this or even existing in her presence right now. 

 

Scott wasn’t a violent person; he hated violence unless it was self-defence. And yet here he was, wanting to strangle the life out of Odin—is that even possible? Considering the fact that Odin was an immortal god?

 

“Bring her back.”  Odin commanded.

 

Hela looked up at him from the ground, glaring fiercely.

 

“Take me to Asgard first.  I haven’t the strength to perform a resurrection this powerful.” 

 

Would the god fall for it? They were soon to find out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Abuse, attempted murder. This chapter gets dark FAST.  
> Or as Ruby just messaged me: “Ruby got carried away.”

He should not have done that so quickly. That was a bad idea on his part. He knew he had used the particles way too many times too fast. And yet he decided to shrink again.

 

That was a mistake.

 

The moment he arrived on the ground in his miniscule form, his head started pounding and he shot big again. Only the suit didn’t have him stop at his regular 5’9” height; oh no, it didn’t. He shot to about 20 feet and hit his head on a rock.

 

Yeah, they’re doomed.

 

Now that the gods’ attention was on him, he chuckled nervously and waved. “Hi Mr. Odin Hela’s father the All-Father Sir… Hi Hela… Okay, sorry for interrupting, but my blood sugar is like… Really out of whack right now. I think I’m gonna go lay down for a moment. Ignore me. Keep talking.”

 

He managed to get back to normal size.

 

The air took on a dangerous charge as Odin eyed him angrily, knuckles turning white as he gripped onto his fancy stick tighter.

 

_ “Oh not good. _ ” he thought.

 

“That was no Bull Ant she squished the other week was it?”  he growled at Hela, who was still on the ground, breathing heavily and wincing as she tried to muster the strength to stand.

 

“Obviously.”  she hissed back, finally getting to her feet, a scowl on her face.

 

Scott kept his gaze (however dazed he was) on Hela, only side-eyeing Odin every few seconds. 

 

“For how long?” Odin asked, tone serious. How hadn’t he noticed Hela wasn’t alone? Where did this man come from? And how did he end up here? He had eyes everywhere– surely he would have noticed another person in the prison. “Hela! For  _ how long _ ?” he thundered.

 

“Hey,  _ zappy _ . Cool it, will ya? She’s hurt! She doesn’t deserve to be yelled at!” And once again, Odin’s attention was on the hostage. 

 

“Scott stay out of this.  I do not need you injured.”

 

“Since when have _you_ **_ever_** cared about whether someone gets injured or not?” Odin spat.

 

Scott watched as Hela’s eyes flared a violent shade of green.

 

“ _ I have always fucking cared!”  _ she hissed, “YOU, were just too busy using  _ me _ to get the Nine back into line.”

 

“I DID  _ NOT _ USE YOU!”

 

“THEN WHY THE FUCK AM I IN HERE, CHAINED LIKE AN ANIMAL AND CAST ASIDE LIKE AN OLD BLADE?!”  she roared, angry tears threatening to fall from her now glowing eyes.

 

Scott watched as Odin reeled back, as if in shock before gathering his wits and striking.  Hela’s head whipped to the side as his palm came into contact with her left cheek, the slap echoing throughout the pit.

 

With an almighty roar, Hela sprang.  A blade coming into her hand as she drove it through her Father’s gut.

 

“ _ If you want to live to see Mother come back, you had better watch yourself because I will  _ not _ tolerate being struck. _ ” she growled.

 

The All-Father gave a pained grunt, shoved her off him, then pulled the blade from his abdomen with a wet squelching noise that made Scott want to throw up.

 

“She isn’t your Mother anymore.  You threw that away when you turned on your people.”  he grunted.

 

Scott looked between the two, trying to keep his eyes off Odin’s wound. “What do you mean?” the Midgardian asked. He felt like he was about to pass out. He needed a nap.

 

“She did not tell you?” Odin asked.

 

“‘parently not,” Scott replied. “And I thought we were becoming friends…” His head was hurting.

 

Why did the disappointment in the man’s voice twinge something in Hela’s heart, making it hurt? What had happened all those years ago was an acting out, a mistake…

 

“I disowned her after she massacred everyone in the palace.”  The All-Father said, pressing a hand to his stomach and healing it in a flash of golden light.

 

Hela held her head high as Scott shifted his gaze to her, brows furrowed.  The next time the Goddess spoke, it was barely a whisper, yet her voice never wavered and came out strong.

 

“It was an ambush.  You knew I couldn’t yet fully control  _ that _ particular power without Mjolnir.  You were looking for a way to get rid of me without making yourself look bad, so you ordered an attack upon me, I lost control, and the blast ripped through the palace and killed  **_nearly_ ** everyone.” Hela said, levelling a glare at her father, “Or did you forget that the people in the outer wings were merely aged into their three thousands and  _ not _ turned to ash like the ones closer to me?”

 

If looks could kill, Odin would have died right then.

 

Scott didn’t really know what to do with this new information.  She had been attacked? And her Father disowned her? And she had been down here in Hel for god knows how long without any knowledge of what was happening in Asgard or anywhere.  No wonder she was bitter and angry! Surprisingly, it still didn’t change how he felt about her. She just needed lots of love and hugs.

 

“Oh my god,” he muttered. He sat up as best as he could in the pain he was in. “Hela…” It wasn’t pity in his tone, nor was it disappointment. She couldn’t quite place what it was exactly. But the look in his eyes said that he wasn’t judging, but that he understood what had happened. It was also strange that he hadn’t used one of his dumb nicknames on her again.

 

She avoided his gaze and focussed on a Valkyrie skull on the ridge behind him.

 

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

 

Hela’s gaze snapped up. What the fuck is he thinking?

 

“She’s your–” Scott winced. “She’s your daughter. You can’t just disown her! And if you would just listen to her for two goddamn seconds, you would know what was wrong!” He leaned back against the wall and clutched his aching side. “You should be ashamed. No wonder everyone around here seems to hate your ass.”

 

“Scott,” Hela hissed at him. “Shut up.”

 

The mortal merely chuckled weakly. “Sorry, Moose Queen,” he said. “I’m just defending your honour.”

 

She now seemed to register something was wrong with him. “Scott, what’s wrong?” she asked, ignoring her father. Involuntary worry was flooding her tone. 

 

“I’ll be fine.” the mortal waved her off.

 

“No, you’re not okay!”

 

“‘M fine.”

 

Hela watched as he listed sideways and crumpled into a heap.  She spun to face her father, a thunderous look on her face.

 

“What did you  _ do _ ?” she growled.

 

“Just as I thought.”  he said, more to himself than to her.

 

Gungnir was thrusted into her too fast for her to stop.  The air was driven from her lungs as agonising pain ripped through her.

 

“F-father.”  she whimpered.

 

“No.”  he growled.

 

Ichor dripped from her stomach, her body trying to heal around the spear, only to be torn open again as he jerked it up and closer to her ribcage, keeping it open and bleeding gold.

The last thing she saw was a set of chains and a muzzle coming out of his pocket dimension before he knocked her out.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hela**

 

When Hela’s consciousness woke up enough for her to register that she was looking at the backs of her eyelids, she immediately felt sick.  She could feel the muzzle on her, a reminder that she was a prisoner here on Asgard as much as she had been in Helheim. Her own realms for crying out loud. And yes, she was certain she was on Asgard because she could feel her body trying to hook into the planet’s ancient power and restore her strength to its full might.

 

She could feel the heavy weight of the chains criss-crossing over nearly every inch of her body and cringed, not wanting to look at where she was being held, for fear that if she woke up, the holding cell would be worse than the pit.  She wanted only to sleep. Something she’d been denied for millennia thanks to that gods awful pit.

  

Sleep wouldn’t come though.  There was a banging sound cutting through the massive headache she was getting from the power dampeners wrapping around her.  She tried to lower her head and found that she couldn’t. There was a collar around her neck with a chain that probably led to someone’s hand, a wall maybe.

 

She was, after all, an animal to these people.  A monster.  And if you wanted to keep a monster as a pet, or a tool or anything, you had to keep it restrained.

 

Which brought her back to her current predicament of chains snaking around her body, tight shackles on her wrists, her ankles, hips, neck, knees and arms.  Each shackle had a power dampener on it, which wholly defeated the purpose of her gaining enough power back (which Odin had so kindly bound) in order to “resurrect” her Mother.

 

Deciding that she wanted to glare daggers at the fool who was currently making that banging noise, she cracked an eye open and blearily looked around.

 

“She’s up!” a guard called.

 

Blinking the blurriness out of her eyes, she saw that she was at Hlidskjalf near the base of the throne.

 

Well what else did I expect from my asshole of a father? She asked herself.

 

Coming out of her state of half awakeness, she straightened up as best as she could with the chains and surveyed the room, looking for weak points in the circle of Einherji that surrounded her and making sure that the room still used the same layout it had when they’d first built it.  It did, which meant the nearest exit was straight ahead.

 

The guards would be easy enough to take out, but then there was the matter of getting Scott back from wherever he was being held, and getting the chains and dampeners off.

 

Her senses told her that Scott wasn’t on Asgard, or Helheim.

 

The sounds of heavy boots slamming into the expensive floors reached her keen hearing.  She looked up and met her Father’s gaze without hesitation.

 

“Do I need to inflict more punishment Queen of Helheim, or will you follow your orders without difficulties arising?” he spat her title out like it was a disgusting bit of food he didn’t want to eat.

 

She felt the dampeners working overtime to try and stop her aura from flaring up in her anger. 

 

She nodded sharply, blinking the angry tears from her eyes as the chains on her neck were yanked roughly by the guards as they forced her to stand.

She would enjoy killing them.  She would enjoy making Odin suffer as she had.

 

“Move.”  one of them growled.

 

She did the exact opposite and rooted herself to the floor.

 

“All-Father!”  one called.

 

Her father turned, Gungnir in hand, and surveyed the scene.

 

“Hela I will not warn you again.”  he said quietly, almost as if he didn’t want to hurt her.

 

Complete and utter bullshit if you asked her.  He wasn’t capable of managing not to hurt anyone.  They were all tools in his grand plan.  Always had been from the moment the universe was pulled from the Ginnungagap and Ymir was made into Midgard all those millennia ago by the first Odin.  He’d only ever see people for their power, and he would use them to get what he wanted. In her case, it had been Nine Realms and a weapon that made those realms tremble before him.  In her mother’s case… well. She didn’t know what had happened to her during the past five thousand years, she was locked up in Hel for most of her life.

 

The blast from Gungnir took her by surprise as it seared into her abdomen where he had so kindly impaled her before.  It instantly healed over, but the shot served as a warning.

 

She decided that she liked her body intact, and not working over time to heal the wounds he would undoubtedly leave her with when they were through with this.

 

The chains clink as she walks, maintaining her grace and moving through the hall past all the gawking staff members and people, head held high.

 

Mother would come soon.

Hela was good at waiting.

Though she couldn’t stop the feeling of loneliness as she realised that there was no Mortal to annoy her with his mere existence.

 

***

**Scott**

 

Scott awoke in his bed in his apartment and looked around. He sat up quickly.

 

“Hello?” he called out. How had he gotten here? “Hela! Miss Frigga?”

 

He got out of bed and saw he was no longer in the Ant suit, but in his pyjamas. His headache and pain was gone, too.

 

“Hela? Ms. Reindeer Goddess Death Queen Lady?”

 

He stepped cautiously toward the door of the bedroom and peeked down the hall. “Hello?” he called out. 

 

Nothing.

 

Had it all been a dream? Did he pass out in the Quantum Realm and Hank and Hope brought him home?

 

He ran to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. No pink glow…

 

Maybe it all was a dream? But it had felt so real! And took place over months… It doesn’t make any sense.

 

He felt hungry all of a sudden. Perhaps going out to eat will help put his mind at ease and make everything make sense.

 

***

 

Hela

 

She passed her Aunt in the hallway.

Eir stopped and fell into step on her other side, pushing the guards out of the way and taking the chains herself.  The tug on her neck loosened as Eir let the chains slacken a bit in her grip.

 

Odin kept walking in front, Gungnir hitting the floor with every step he took as he used it to keep himself upright.

He was nearing his time soon.  That form was getting too old for him, even she could see that.

 

“Stay tight darling.  She’s coming soon.” she whispers.

 

Hela nods, then listens as Eir lectures the guards about how to hold the chains properly.

 

The chains stay like how Eir had held them long after she left, the guards obviously not wanting to anger their Head Healer.  The feeling of calm she had was gone with Eir too. Dread settled back into the pit of her stomach as they walked through the endless halls.

 

“Keep moving.”  the guards growled, poking her in the back with their spears.

 

She didn’t even realise she had slowed down.

 

***

 

Scott

 

The man found himself wandering down the street with a slushie in hand, chewing on the straw as he was deep in thought.

 

He was still pondering over what he had thought was a dream. It was strange, actually. He had checked his phone and found that it actually was several months since the Quantum Teather tests. He’d called Hope and Hank, too, and they were thrilled and relieved that he was back and alive, but they hadn’t been the ones to get him back, thought that didn’t mean they hadn’t been trying to get him out. 

 

As for how he had gotten out of the Ant-Man suit and into pyjamas, he found the suit in his closet when he was looking for something to wear out to get groceries and something to eat.

 

He couldn’t get the Death goddess out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. They were connected somehow, and he needed to get back to her, if it all turned out to not be a dream. 

 

He sighed and took a long slurp from his cherry-flavoured slush and turned a corner, now arriving on his street. 

 

There was a list going through his head, and memories from the pit in Hel resurfacing every now and then. Something happened to him there and it involved the queen of death. With all this evidence laid out in front of him, he knew: It wasn’t a dream.

 

Then he remembered something big: Odin. 

 

The mortal dropped his slushie onto the pavement. “Hela!” he shouted, and took off down the street to his house. He needed to get the suit. He was going to get Hela out of there if it was the last thing he’d ever do.

 

He rounded a blind corner and ran smack into a tall woman with brown hair, brown eyes and sharp features, wearing something the nurses in a hospital would wear.  Only the golden runic styled clip up near her left shoulder, and the updo similar to Frigga’s suggested otherwise.

 

She waved her hand and Scott fell into a peaceful sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott’s breath hitched as he saw her face.
> 
> Her veins were black, and she was muzzled like a dog. She was barely breathing, her front was covered in blackened blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi yall, it's me, The Fish.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter and have an awesome week yall!

**Scott**

 

“Eir, I love you dearly, but you are wrong,” a woman’s voice said as Scott awoke. “If anything, my daughter will make the first move.”

 

“My money is on the mortal,” another woman—he’s guessing  _ that _ is Eir—replied. “He seems dumb enough to approach her first.”

 

Scott sat up and groaned. “What the fuck? Was I just kidnapped?”

 

“No dear, just relocated to Fensalir on Vanaheim under a sleeping spell.  I would  _ never _ kidnap anyone.”  Eir said, handing him a glass of water.

 

“Eir, that is exactly what kidnapping is.”  Frigga said dryly.

 

Eir shrugged, then tilted his head different ways, checked his eyes, then his pulse.  None of it was uncomfortable, she made him feel calm and sleepy, though that might be the effects of whatever spell she’d used on him still lingering.

 

What had Hela called it?  An Aura. Then something about all the Gods having one and being able to influence people with it.

 

_ Like that War God dude in Cassie’s Percy Jackson books _ , he thought.

 

“Stand up.”  Eir ordered gently, helping him out of the comfortable bed.

 

She stared him down like a hawk for a minute, then grabbed one of his arms and held it out to the side, waving it up and down gently.

 

“I can practically see Freyja’s seidr on him.  She must have hit him well.” Eir said to Frigga, waving his arm again.

 

Frigga squinted from her place in the chair in the corner of the room.  Her eyes widened more and more the longer she looked at him.

 

He squirmed under their gazes, the hawk-like way they inspected him for spells and injuries was starting to get to him.

 

“Eir, you’re right, but you need to stop prodding at him.”  She said, going back to the book that had suddenly appeared in her hands.

 

“I’ve never done a check-up on a mortal before.”  Eir said, a slight whine in her tone as she let his arm go, “Sit down Scott.  You’re still not quite fully rested.”

 

Frigga glared at the other Goddess as he sat down on the bed again and drank the rest of his water.

 

“I have a question,” he said suddenly. “Where’s Hela? Odin didn’t hurt her, did he? And how did I get back home?”

 

“You need to rest,” Eir said. “Then we’ll answer your questions.”

 

“But–”

 

“No buts. Sit down, rest, and if you need more water just let one of us know.”

 

Scott fell silent. The suddenly– “Wait! Ms. Frigga, what about our plan? You’re supposed to be getting your magic back!”

 

“We are working on that,” the goddess replied, holding her hands up in assurance. “You need to rest and let that spell wear off.”

 

“O- okay…”

 

***

 

She was alone, unless you counted the guards stationed outside the door. She had been quiet for the most part, her body exhausted as it tried to reabsorb the magic in the planet’s core. 

 

Eir’s words kept playing through her thoughts. Her mother was coming. The plan may actually succeed and play through.  That was unless Odin found out.

 

Something nagged at her in the back of her mind, the souls of the guards standing around her dimmed as she stretched her senses out and snuffed their lights out.  Their souls, weren’t sent to Hel nor to Valhalla. She absorbed them and used it to lessen her exhaustion. The time to act was now.

 

Standing up, she stretched.

Always important before a battle.  She didn’t want to pull her hamstring or put her shoulders out.  The pain didn’t last long, but it did slow her down for a bit when it did happen.

There were four more guards outside the chamber she was being held in.  She decided not to kill them until her chains were off.

 

Ripping the chains out of the floor, she succeeded in giving her legs and arms more space to move.  The chain on her neck was bolted into the wall, but that didn’t stay that way for long when she turned and ripped it out.  

 

Breathing heavily, she gathered the chains up in her arms and moved over to the bath in the corner of the room, trying to make as little noise as possible.  The bath was elevated and its ledges provided excellent high ground material. Perching on the ledge, she cracked the shackles on her neck and abdomen open with a blade she’d summoned that was sharp enough to slice through the uru like it was soft butter.  The relief was instant as she was able to hook up to Asgard’s core with more ease.  

 

The guards outside were engaged in conversation with a woman that had probably come up to check on her.  It was a healer, her name was Alka, she was 1,501 years old and she was highly uncomfortable with the amount of attention she was receiving from the low ranking Einherjar guards posted outside.  She gained all of this from looking at the woman’s soul.

 

Sighing through her nose, she cracked her neck, then her back and stood up, discarding the chains she’d already taken off and putting them in her magical cache.  She slammed her shackled wrists on the side of the bath with such force that the bath cracked, and the shackles fell off. She prayed that the guards nor the healer had heard that loud noise.  The feeling of breaking something of her father’s was exhilarating, doing it and feeling the last shackles fall off solidified the fact that she was out of Helheim and about to get away from this awful place.  She didn’t believe she’d ever get out of that pit, but she did now, and she  _ loved _ it.

 

Starting to panic slightly, she ripped the shackles off her ankles, knees and tore the chains off her completely, storing them all in her cache with the others.  The guards’ conversation had stopped, and the doors to her prison were opening.

 

“STOP HER!”  One yelled as she shot past him and out into the corridor, the muzzle was the only restraint left on her.

 

She ran as hard as she could, making it to a balcony before the guards that had chased her (and their reinforcements) cornered her.  The only way out was either off the balcony, or kill all the guards with a power she can barely channel without Mjolnir.

 

Wait.

 

_ Mjolnir. _

 

She holds her hands up in faux surrender and feels the tug of her Warhammer grow stronger.  Mjolnir hadn’t changed except for the enchantment on it cast by… Odin. Why is she not surprised?

 

While waiting for Mjolnir, Hela flicked two blades out (noticing for the first time in her life that they came from  _ under her fucking skin _ ) and held them at her side after dragging her hands through her hair and feeling the familiar weight of her hair manifesting into her antlered helm.  

 

A screaming sound was coming up behind her as Mjolnir flew faster.  The guards broke into large grins as they saw the hammer, probably thinking that they were saved by whoever else wielded it in her absence.  She threw two blades into the necks of the closest guards and grabbed Mjolnir with her right hand, slamming the head of it into the ground as she tugged on her innate power and made the shadows condense around her.  The blast sent a shockwave of green lightning out over the group, ageing them until they were nothing but withered corpses.

 

Mjolnir thudded to the ground and stayed there even after she tried to pick it up.

 

_[Not worthy, sorry Mistress_.] the hammer hummed.

 

She threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes.  Extending a hand, she placed it on the hammer’s head and saw the Horn of Odin light up as she did.

 

_ Oh this will be easier than I thought. _

 

Reaching for her seidr, she wound it around her Father’s enchantment and squeezed.  She didn’t have enough in her reserve to break it without a hole, but if she found one in it she could.

Seconds later, the enchantment caved as her seidr reserves grew.

 

There was no time though.  More Einherjar were on their way, her father was a mere room’s length away from her as he burst through the archway.

 

“Running away are we now?”  he said angrily, gripping Gungnir tighter.

 

She shrugged nonchalantly and moved into a relaxed stance with her hand on her hip as she picked at her nails.

 

“But where would you go?  You are weak, even more so after Helheim.  The entire realm is aware that there is a monster on the loose, and the prize for you being caught dead or alive is rather enticing for many.”  he growled.

 

She couldn’t come back with a scathing remark because her mouth was sealed under a muzzle, but she let her eyes flare green to show her displeasure at his words.

 

“What?  Nothing to say to that, Monster?”  he said, coming to stand closer and pushing her toward the balcony’s edge.

 

Her back hit the stone balustrade.  She thought about ripping the muzzle off, but thought better of it when she felt the sharp pin-like things dig into her jaw further. 

 

There was only one way out of this now, she realised. 

 

She stole a peek over the edge. She could make it… It’s a risky move but she could do it. She looked back at Odin, staring him down as she climbed up onto the ledge. 

 

“You would break every bone in your body if you jumped from this height.”  he growled, making to grab her wrist.

 

She edged closer to the edge, pulled her wrist free, and watched with glee as his eyes widened slightly, almost like he was concerned about the outcome of her plan.  Of course he didn’t, because he only saw the outcome as losing his weapon.

 

“Stop Hela.”

 

She looked at him again and edged back so she had her heels hanging over the edge of the balustrade and the balls of her feet keeping her from falling.  She raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“No, I am your father, you will not throw yourself from that balcony! HELA!” he said, his angry growl escalating into a tone of great panic.

 

She let herself fall, extending both her middle fingers in his direction as the wind rushed in her ears.

 

It was funny how he was her father when it suited him.

 

Her seidr swallows her up before she hits the ground, she ignores the tear slipping from her eye.

 

***

**Scott**

 

Scott bolted upright suddenly and looked over at the two goddesses. His eyes were wide and full of fear. 

 

“Something’s wrong!” he said. “Something’s wrong with Hela! I- I don’t know what! Something’s wrong…”

 

Eir looked to Frigga. 

 

“They were with each other for many months,” the latter noted. “They may have formed a connection.”

 

“I need to do something!” Scott was on his feet in no time. 

 

A bright flash of green blinded him, and he sat back down as Frigga practically dived to catch whatever had just appeared.

 

The feeling of dread in his stomach settled as he saw the Queen sit up from where she was laying on the floor with Hela unconscious and on top of her.

 

Eir spun into action, making another bed appear and helping the other Goddess lift Hela onto it.  He heard Eir whisper, “She’s too light.” to Frigga as they placed her carefully on the cot.

 

Scott’s breath hitched as he saw her face.

 

Her veins were black, and she was muzzled like a dog.  She was barely breathing, her front was covered in blackened blood.

 

“Oh god, Hela…” he whispered. He tried to get over to her, but Frigga held him back.

 

“Let Eir do her work, then you can see her,” she said to him. 

 

Scott watched helplessly as Eir cuts the armour from the Goddess’ body, revealing a huge wound that still seeped gold.

 

“Frigg,”  Eir said, her voice barely a whisper, “Not good.  He’s done something to this and it’s not good.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott sings Ariana Grande. Something intimate almost happens. Plans are formulated. Feelings admitted by accident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this got *really* long. sorry

**Hela**

A dull ache had started behind her eyes.  Her stomach ached where Odin had stabbed her and she wondered why it was still hurting after it had already healed.  Something pulled her unconscious attention away from her stomach as she registered someone… singing? It sounded more like a deer screaming, but quieter.

 

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, hissing as her stomach protested and the warm feeling of ichor stained the bandages wrapped around her middle.  She looked around as her vision cleared up and saw the Midgardian giggling to himself and sing-mumbling to himself about the Christian God being a female or something. 

 

He was okay.  He is fine.

 

Relief washed over her as she looked over him, his soul and then at her surroundings.

 

She was in her room in her Mother’s palace on Vanaheim.  Fensalir.

 

A crash made her jump and flick out a blade, standing ready to defend herself.  Millennia of fighting in wars made you do that. Flashbacks of Jotunheim and the sound of shattering ice flicked across her mind as she tensed up like a coiled spring.

 

She found it was Scott that had made the noise, accidentally knocking over the tray on the dresser near the door. 

 

Clumsy mortal.

 

_ Your “Clumsy mortal”. _

 

_ Shut up. _

 

_ Oh who are you kidding?  You like him. _

 

Hela grits her teeth and lets the blades slide back under the skin of her wrists where they came from.  She’s getting soft. Too soft for her liking.

 

She finds that she doesn’t care at this moment, and is more glad that she’s free from her chains, from Helheim, from Odin.  

 

“Hela!” 

 

She looks back to the mortal.

 

“You’re okay! Oh my god, you’re okay!” He hurried over. 

 

“Touch me and I’ll skin you alive,” she threatened.

 

_ Would you really though? _

 

“Right, no physical contact,” he said, recoiling. “Sorry. I’m just glad you’re safe! I was so scared and- I knew something was wrong. I felt it. What happened? Where was he keeping you? I was sent back to San Francisco! I missed you, actually. It was weird without you there keeping me from getting hurt. I actually hit my head with my sink’s mirror after being back for only five minutes.”

 

Why had she missed this rambling and scatter-brainedness?  She shouldn’t have missed him at all. She should have been glad he was gone.

 

“How are you feeling?” he asked suddenly.

 

This man—this  _ mortal— _ was so kind and caring. She doesn’t deserve this. She is a  _ monster _ .  Monsters don’t deserve to be cared for.  How can he still like her after what happened in Hel?

 

“Were you hurt?” The words were out before she could even think them. 

 

“Hela, I’m fine,” the man assured. “You’re the one who was bleeding like crazy. You don’t need to worry about me. Worry about yourself and about healing.”

 

She pushes herself up and out of bed, ignoring the pain and strides over to where Scott stands.

 

“Where is Mother?  We need to mobilize my troops immediately.” she asks.

 

_ Hug him.  Go on. It wouldn’t kill you. _

 

“Hela you need to rest.  Your bandaging is almost soaked.”  he says worriedly.

 

She pushes past him gently and exits the room, reaching out with her senses to feel for her Mother’s bright soul.  She finds her Aunt and Mother in the Map room, studying Asgard’s Capital and placing little soldier models in spots where they’d least likely to expect an army to come from.

 

Eir sees her first and Hela instinctively folds in on herself at the look of disapproval on her face.

 

Scott stepped out to her and furrowed his eyebrows at her. “Hela…” 

 

_ Please use one of your dumb nicknames.  Then I won’t think you’re pitying me. I don’t need your pity.  Monsters don’t deserve pity. _

 

“Hela, come on. Just come back inside and sit down. You’re bleeding bad again.”

 

She looked down at the bandages. He was right. Though she was so used to being in pain all the time that she hadn’t noticed it.

 

“Please,” he said. “Let me clean it up.”

 

She resisted, but eventually gave in when she saw how worried he actually looked, then noticed how her Mother and Eir were glaring at her as if to say “move your ass and do as you’re told.”  That was when she found herself lying on the cot again, Scott gently cleaning the wound and bandaging her back up. 

 

“How do you know how–”

 

He cut her off. “When I was in prison, the doctors were sometimes too busy to help everyone who got into fights all at one time, so Luis and I had to help each other… a lot.”

 

“Do not cut me off like that again.  Did your mother not teach you anything about basic politeness?”  she snarked, adjusting the pillow with an annoyed huff before laying back.

 

“I don’t know my mom. She died when I was born. My dad raised me. He  _ did _ teach me manners, yes. I’m sorry for interrupting.” He finished with her wound and double checked it before getting up. “I’ll give you time to rest. Again, I missed you and I’m sorry.”

 

She sighed. “Wait.”

 

He stopped walking but didn’t turn around. “Yeah?”

 

"I shouldn't have snapped." she says, swallowing her pride. 

 

“It’s fine,” he said. “Honest.” His hands were stuffed in his pockets and his head hung. “This is a stupid question but… Did you miss me? At all? Even a smidge?”

 

_ I missed you every second.  _

 

But she doesn't say that, because she doesn't understand why she missed him. 

 

_ "Monsters do not love."  _ her father's voice hissed in her mind. 

 

She shut the memory out and focused on Scott.  Why wasn't he looking at her? Was she really  _ that _ much of a monster that he didn't even want to look at her anymore? 

 

“Hela…”

 

That was when she noticed it. How she hadn’t before, she didn’t know.  It wasn't exactly high on her list of things to look for while recovering from a stab wound, but the pink aura was gone. The love spell from Freyja was no longer there.

 

She swallowed hard and stared at his back. “Why won’t you use one of your stupid nicknames?” 

 

He finally turned to face her. They were on a roll now. “What? Look, this is a serious and scary moment, it doesn't feel appropriate.”

 

“But it–”

 

“But it what?”

 

“Do not interrupt!”

 

“Hela, I’m sorry but I don’t understand. I thought you hated the nicknames?”

 

_ No _ . 

 

"I do- I mean, I don't, I missed you too much!" she blurts. 

 

The man fell silent.

 

Hela felt her cheeks heat up as she thinned her lips and looked at the floor, emotions she thought she had beaten out of herself all those millennia ago, were now swirling around inside of her. 

 

_ You just admitted that you missed him.  _

 

She doesn't know what to feel.  She hasn't felt anything like this since… well… she hasn't felt anything other than sadness, hatred and anger (and the rare case of happiness) since before the Conquest. 

 

_ Oh gods it hurts.  _

 

_ I don't want to feel.  _

 

_ Make it stop.  _

 

Her heart squeezed painfully as she realised that he might have only cared for her because of Freyja's meddling love spells. 

 

“You weren’t actually annoyed with me before they sent me away?” he asked, his voice softer than usual.

 

_ I don't know anymore.  _

 

_ It hurts.  _

 

_ Why does it hurt?  _

 

She shook her head. She couldn’t lie to him about it now. 

 

“No, I was not.” She sighed and shifted on the bed, careful of her side. 

 

_ Change topics.  _

“You said you have a daughter, yes?” she asked suddenly.

 

_ Oh good one Hela.  _

 

Scott nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “She’s great. She’d love you, if I’m being honest.”

 

“How old?” she asked softly.

 

“She just turned eight.” 

 

Hela took notice in the fond tone he gained in his voice at the mention of the child. 

 

“What’s her name?” 

 

“Cassie.”

 

_ Do not get attached.  He isn't under Freyja's spell anymore.  He will be different.  _ She mentally berated herself. 

 

But she wanted to hear more; anything to get him to not sound upset. 

 

“Tell me about her.” 

 

It might take his attention away from the possible outcomes of the battle to come.  His soul would  _ not _ stop jittering nervously and it was driving her nuts.  One can only take so much.

 

Scott didn’t question her at all, and she was grateful for that. 

 

He sat down and raised his shoulders slightly. “What do you want to know?” 

 

“Anything,” She said, lacing her fingers together and placing them lightly on her bandaged stomach.

 

That seemed to spark something in him, and he started telling her many stories about his little girl.

 

“Her name is Cassandra Eleanor. But she’ll always be my Peanut...” he started. 

 

_ Peanut.  How quaint. _

 

He told her about Cassie’s demonic animatronic rabbit she never went to sleep without that he got her for her sixth birthday after  _ immediately _ being released from prison.  About her being brave at the young age of  _ six, _ and not once showing fear when she came face to face with an evil man in a yellowjacket shrinky suit that was trying to kidnap her.  About how she was growing so much and how she was so smart and always has his back. About how  _ she _ was more  _ his _ hero than  _ he _ was  _ hers _ .

 

Sometime during the storytelling, he ended up in bed beside her. Neither of them remember it happening, it just did. And she wasn’t complaining. 

 

“...Her mom and stepdad and I are all friends now,” he was saying. “They’re actually trying to get me more visitation and custody rights so I can see her more.”

 

“Why can’t you see her when you want?” she asked, not quite understanding their Midgardian Laws of Divorce.

 

Asgard was different, but not by much.  The Aesir usually loved their children too much to do anything that would give the ex reason to involve the head of the Pantheon.  Custody and visitation etc was usually sorted out within their family. Sometimes if she did get involved, it was usually to execute someone.

 

“That’s the thing about getting divorced when you have a kid with your now-ex spouse,” Scott explained. “You both end up wanting custody and you have to go through court if one of you doesn’t want to give the other time with the kid.” He sighed heavily. “Getting thrown in jail makes it a bajillion-zillion times harder. Life after the cell affects visitation rights and custody rules.”

 

Hela listened intently.

 

“Maggie didn’t want me to even pass Cassie in the streets on accident after I got out. She and Paxton kicked me out of the house when I stopped by for Cassie’s birthday—when I gave her the rabbit. I needed to pay child support—which I eventually was able to do—and  _ then _ we’d talk about visitation.”

 

“Oh…”

 

“Yeah. Then I became Ant-Man by accident. Luis, Kurt, Dave, and I broke into my now-mentor’s house and went looking for money. All we found was the suit.”

 

He looked at her, his forest-green eyes bright.

 

“What?” Hela asked, confused.

 

“I’m glad I stole the suit,” he said. “If I hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have shared custody over Cassie…  _ And I wouldn’t have met you.”  _ He spoke the last part as a whisper. 

 

He seemed to be leaning in closer. 

 

_ Is he going to–?  Shit! What do I do? _

 

She stayed rigid, barely breathing as he got nearer.

 

Her mother was standing at the door.

 

He leapt back when Frigg cleared her throat from the doorway.  Scott fell out of the cot and onto the floor, Hela stifled an undignified snort of laughter.

 

She sat up, then helped the mortal back to his feet, trying to keep a straight face.

 

“We’ve come up with a plan,” Frigga said from the doorway, “if you two would like to join us.”

 

The twinkle in her mother’s green eyes ruined the straight face she was trying to keep.  Scott brushed himself off as Eir appeared at the doorway with a book in hand and pushed her back down onto the bed.

 

“I found the counter enchantment for this.  It’ll stop you bleeding and allow you to heal properly.”  Eir said, putting the book down and undoing all of Scott’s work quicker than he had been able to put it back together.

 

Her Mother left the room with Scott as Eir cleaned the wound out.

 

“What did he use on me?”  she said, wincing as something was removed.

 

“Sorry, I must have missed that bit of metal when I last cleaned you up.”  Eir frowned, “It appears to be an anticoagulant spell of some kind. He probably did it when he stabbed you.”

 

That was nearly five thousand years ago since Eir had to patch her up.  And Eir was only just pulling out a remnant of an old blade now? And the anticoagulant?   _ Really Dad?  Your plan was to have me bleed to death? _

 

“Gods woman.  I thought you were the best of the best.”  she hissed, staring up at the ceiling.

 

“Oh I am.  But this is from when you killed all of my Valkyries.”  Her aunt held up the bit of Dragon Fang for her to see, a bitterness entering her tone.

 

“Not my fault they were incompetent fools.”  she muttered, gasping when a cold sensation filled the wound.

 

“Let’s just remember that I wasn't the one  training them at the time. Brunnhilde took over when I was busy in the Healing Halls for a few centuries.” she tutted.

 

Hela snorted and lay still as Eir’s seidr did its work and purged the anticoagulant from her body.  She felt herself heal up again, then wound closing as if it hadn’t been there at all. The only telltale sign that she had been stabbed, was the light pink scar starting from above her navel and going up to just under her ribs.

 

“I’m not even going to tell you to take it easy.  You won’t listen, and you don’t need to anyway because your healing factor is so good.” Eir huffed, cleaning up the bandages.

 

“Not entirely true, I do listen.”

 

“Says the woman who goes and fights on Muspelheim while suffering from a near seidr collapse.”

 

“That wasn’t my choice.”

 

Eir nods in a kind of sad understanding.

 

“I think we should go to the war room now.  Your Mother might have accidentally scared Scott off.” 

 

She hums in agreement and follows her aunt out the door, the headache pounding away behind her eyes again as her body recharged with Vanaheim’s help.

 

***

 

**Scott**

 

Meanwhile, Scott and Frigga were in the war room. He felt kind of awkward, considering what the goddess had walked in on. 

 

He felt the need to explain himself, and  _ maybe _ lie to her. “Look, what you saw–”

 

“You don’t have to explain yourself, Scott,” Frigga interrupted. “I understand completely what was going on.”

 

“Really? And you’re not mad I was about to…”

 

The woman shook her head. “You’re a strange man, but seeing you with her… It’s nice. You get her to  _ smile. _ It’s been many eons since anything  _ non-genocidal _ has gotten her to do that.”

 

“I’d guess so… considering where she uh… was.”

 

“I’d like to thank you for that.”

 

“Oh.” He had a confused expression. “You’re welcome? I think?”

 

“Eir got your suit and brought it here when she went to Midgard to retrieve you,” the goddess quickly changed subjects. “We have it right over here.” She moved to another area of the room and turned back to him a moment later, holding the shrinking suit up.

 

“My suit!” he exclaimed and walked over, a bright grin on his face. “I was afraid I was gonna have to like… ride a horse or something.”

 

“Like I said, Eir retrieves it. At my request.  A very good Handmaiden and sister.”

 

“Thank you  _ so _ much!”

 

“We are preparing for a war, Scott,” the woman reminded. “You should go change.”

 

“Right!” 

 

He started for the door but stopped and turned back to her. “Can I ask you something?” he asked.

 

“You just did,” the goddess joked. “But go ahead.”

 

“What exactly are we up against? How dangerous?”

 

“Certain death.” She didn’t even bother sugarcoating. “But we have plenty in our army as well.”

 

“Right. Thank you.”

 

He returned a short while later with the suit on, helmet retracted. He seemed urgent.

 

“Frigga, I need to tell you something really important.”

 

“Scott, can it wait? We’re kind of–”

 

“It can’t wait. I need to get it off my chest: I think I like…  _ like _ like your daughter. Like, more than what’s probably appropriate for a mortal and goddess.  _ Pleasedon’tsmiteme!” _

 

_ “Excuse me?”  _ Hela said.

 

That was when he noticed she and Eir had joined Frigga in the room while he was gone.

 

“Oh shit…”

 

Eir gave Frigga a sly grin, which the other goddess mirrored, then set about rearranging the soldiers on the table.

 

“Nothing!”  he said, panicking.

 

Hela’s eyebrows rose, but she seemed to let it drop. 

 

He cleared his throat and made his way over, taking up the spot beside the death goddess. “So uh… What’s the plan?”

 

“You need to pay close attention or you’ll definitely miss something important,” Frigga warned. “Here it is…” Then she started explaining, Eir jumping in to add something every now and then. 

 

Scott did his best to pay attention to what was being said, but it was hard to focus; embarrassment, anxiety, and terror of possible outcomes were all bubbling inside his brain and chest.

 

“He didn’t retain any of that,” Frigga sighed, “did he?”

 

“I’m sorry. I’m just nervous…” Scott whined. “I’ve never gone up against immortal deities before and I’m like… really scared of dying and never seeing Cassie again and–Oh my god, I’m rambling again aren’t I?”

 

Frigga, Eir, and Hela all shared a look and the death goddess nodded at the other two. Frigg and Eir stepped away and Hela turned to Scott.

 

“Look at me,” she said sternly. 

 

He did so, afraid to not comply, yet his eyes kept flitting around the room.

 

She hesitated a moment, then took his hands in her own (that’s how you show sincerity, right?) and said in a calm, serious tone, “You will be completely fine, Scott. We will not _ —I _ will not—let  _ anything _ happen to you. You will not die. I forbid it. And I will do  _ everything _ in my power to make sure you will see your daughter—what was it you said you call her... _ Peanut? _ —again.”

 

“I’m sorry,” the man whispered, his gloved thumb gently brushing over her fingers. “I always get nervous before a fight.”

 

“If you could take on your friend’s evil colleague and a man with mechanical wings with as  _ minimal training as you have, _ you should be fine.  The Einherjar's prowess has greatly declined since my days as their High General.”

 

There was that look in both their eyes again. 

 

Eir cleared her throat. “If you two are done flirting,” she teased, “we have work to do.”


End file.
